CHAPTER 251: CHAPTER 57: LATE-STAGE FOUNDATION ESTABLISHMENT

Qingzhou, Yin Corpse Sect headquarters, Yin Corpse Secret Realm.

For forces with a Cultivator above the Void Profound stage stationed, their core strongholds are usually in a separate space attached to the Celestial Essence Realm.

This separate space, created by the Void Profound Great Power, is safer and more hidden compared to lands located in the outside world, making it less vulnerable to enemy invasion.

Nine-Child Demon Venerable, one of the four Void Profound Ancestors of the Yin Corpse Sect, gained his name by using demon secret techniques to strip the Nascent Souls from eight Divine Body geniuses and merge them into himself.

He is also the mastermind behind the Yin Corpse Sect’s Immortal Puppet grand plan...

However, this plan has nearly collapsed due to the interference of the Ancient Country.

"Ancestor! The Longevity Body has appeared." A Divinity Transformation Cultivator wrapped in corpse cloth stood before a graveyard, calling out to Nine-Child Demon Venerable.

"Where?" A voice devoid of emotion emanated from within the graveyard.

The Yin Corpse Sect Guardian spoke.

"Reporting to Ancestor, that Longevity Body Lin Jing is indeed in Qingzhou. Our deductions were not mistaken, but he... appeared at the hundred-year ceremony of the Celestial Lion Race."

"Celestial Lion Race?" The graveyard shook, and Nine-Child Demon Venerable emerged into the void: "Why would the Longevity Body go to the Celestial Lion Race?!"

Guardian Yuan tremblingly said: "That Lin Jing, at the Celestial Lion Race’s ceremony, publicly revealed his Longevity Body identity and put a bounty on our sect’s cultivators’ heads, offering his own Longevity flesh..."

Nine-Child Demon Venerable paused, then laughed in anger.

But Guardian Yuan’s next words made his laughter vanish.

"Subsequently, he somehow caused the Longevity Body raised by the Celestial Lion Race to instantly reach the peak of the Void Profound stage. The two exterminated most of the Celestial Lion Race’s members and plundered their treasure vault before disappearing..."

"This subordinate suspects... suspects it’s the legendary Celestial Demon Body. After all, Lin Jing has been in contact with the Demon Extermination Bureau... His purpose in going to the Celestial Lion Race might have been to pass the Celestial Demon Body to another Longevity Body."

"It’s the only explanation for how two low-level Longevity Bodies could wreak havoc on the Celestial Lion Race..."

Nine-Child Demon Venerable suddenly became deadly silent, then slowly spoke: "Celestial Demon Body, after the Celestial Demon Sect’s destruction, only two people in the Ancient Country have successfully cultivated it over thousands of years, and you tell me these two Longevity Bodies have both succeeded?"

"Damn it!"

"How can I repair the Immortal Puppet like this?" he spoke angrily, causing the surrounding graveyard to explode.

Guardian Yuan remained silent.

Countless years ago, the Yin Corpse Sect discovered an Immortal Beast’s corpse at a relic in the Ancient Country.

This Immortal Beast corpse was closely tied to the relic, making it difficult to move.

Thus, the Yin Corpse Sect secretly transformed this place into a sub-settlement point, aiming to refine the Immortal Beast into a corpse puppet on-site, which led to countless years of effort.

Unexpectedly, at a critical moment, the site was discovered by the Ancient Country Demon Extermination Bureau and destroyed.

Many Yin Corpse Sect cultivators perished within the site, and the stationed Void Profound Ancestor had their body destroyed.

Ultimately, though they successfully moved the Immortal Beast’s corpse, the forced transfer severely damaged the corpse, requiring rare resources for repair.

Investigations by the Yin Corpse Sect found that the best thing to repair the Immortal Beast corpse was the extreme essence of life and death.

The Longevity Body contains one of these essences.

Regardless of whether it is refining or repairing the corpse puppet, the Longevity Body is required.

Thus, the Yin Corpse Sect set its sights on Lin Jing, the Longevity Body, and planned the Hidden Dragon Academy transfer operation.

However, who knew that Lin Jing, like a rat, remained deeply hidden despite Void Profound Great Powers’ deductions and searches.

And now, Nine-Child Demon Venerable first hears of Lin Jing’s presence after he and another Longevity Body wreak havoc on the Celestial Lion Race—a true shock.

"Originally, if unable to find Lin Jing, I thought of seizing the Celestial Lion Race’s Longevity Body. Though the Celestial Lion Ancestor is incredibly troublesome, compared to resurrecting the Immortal Beast corpse, offending one Celestial Lion Ancestor isn’t significant..."

"But now the other Longevity Body’s life essence is likely exhausted..."

"Only Lin Jing remains, and word has it, he is from the Beast Taming Sect, where the Sect Leader’s adopted daughter is the Demon Court Saintess. If Lin Jing ultimately chooses to join the Demon Court, then there’s no hope of capturing the Longevity Body.

Although the chances of a single Longevity Body daring to join the Demon Court are slim, but..."

"You useless group, you discovered the Longevity Body long ago, why didn’t you immediately recapture him! If he had been caught earlier, it wouldn’t have led to the current situation."

Faced with the Demon Venerable’s blame, Guardian Yuan couldn’t voice his grievances. The Yin Corpse Sect had few powerful figures available in the Ancient Country, as most were guarding the Immortal Beast relic.

At this stage, a Qi Cultivation Longevity Body wasn’t given much importance, and after all, he entered the Beast Taming Sect, even deploying Divinity Transformation Demon Cultivators faced the difficulty of breaching a sect with a Sect Protection Array and Dragon Vein Guardian quickly.

Deploying Divinity Transformation to invade a sect in the Ancient Country requires thorough planning to avoid alerting others, since the Immortal Puppet grand plan is more crucial.

Yet, before the sect could even discuss, this Longevity Body had stayed less than a year in the Beast Taming Sect and quickly moved to Hidden Dragon Academy, making it even harder to recapture him.

As for the subsequent damage to the Immortal Beast corpse requiring the Longevity Body’s life essence for repair, these later consequences were beyond what anyone could foresee.

"Enough." Nine-Child Demon Venerable exhaled, saying: "Continue searching for Lin Jing, we cannot give up. He himself might not have cultivated into the Celestial Demon Body."

"Before the Sect Leader’s seclusion, he entrusted the task of refining the Immortal Puppet to me, I cannot disappoint the Sect Leader..." His expression carried a hint of fear.

The current Sect Leader of the Yin Corpse Sect, the Corpse Emperor, is older than the first generation Ancient Emperor and a Great Power of the Dao Inquiry stage. He is a Corpse Cultivator, but due to the injuries sustained in a battle against the Ancient Emperor, he has been in seclusion for millennia.

The other purpose of the Yin Corpse Sect’s existence is to collect a massive amount of essence to maintain the Sect Leader’s place of corpse nurturing.

This Immortal Puppet is a significant task entrusted to him by the Sect Leader. If it fails, punishment is inevitable. Nine-Child Demon Venerable is determined to capture Lin Jing, the Longevity Body, to repair the Immortal Beast corpse puppet.

"I’ll take action personally to locate the Longevity Body." He had previously infiltrated the academy with an illusion body but was severely injured due to the curse tracked by the Ancient Country Cultivators. However, now is not the time for recuperation.

The exposure of the Longevity Body’s intelligence may attract many forces to search.

As the Yin Corpse Sect found itself in chaos due to Lin Jing’s havoc in the Celestial Lion Race, Lin Jing’s true self, under the protection of Senior Sister Guardian, was already comprehending the terrifying ancient demon ancestor’s might from the Blood of Zhu Yan using the Beast Taming Body’s suppression.

An ancient demon ancestor could never accept being suppressed by the Beast Taming Body, even if it was just a drop of blood.

The clash allowed Lin Jing to gain a deeper understanding of the Zhu Yan Demon Ancestor.

At the same time, his havoc in the Celestial Lion Race earned him unparalleled Hidden Dragon fortune, which he could use to enhance his perceptiveness.

"Almost there, combining the thousand transformations and Void Reversal Technique that attain Technique Elemental Spirit level, summoning an entity-like Vermilion Bird, though it cannot exert true demon ancestor power, poses no considerable threat unless the opponent is at the Nascent Soul stage."

Lin Jing ended his secluded cultivation and found that through this process, his cultivation had broken through to the Late-Stage Foundation Establishment!

Although the Core Formation feedback from the Dragon Carp couldn’t propel him through in one leap, it was only a minor gap, and now through days of cultivation, he smoothly crossed this hurdle himself.

"How do you feel?" Xu Qingyao, who had been guarding Lin Jing, saw him open his eyes and said: "You nearly absorbed all the Spiritual Qi in this cave during your breakthrough to a small stage of Foundation Establishment."